[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1397 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1397

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt certain 16- and 
   17-year-old individuals employed in timber harvesting entities or 
 mechanized timber harvesting entities from child labor laws, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2023

  Mr. Golden of Maine (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Ms. 
  Pingree, and Mr. Fulcher) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt certain 16- and 
   17-year-old individuals employed in timber harvesting entities or 
 mechanized timber harvesting entities from child labor laws, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Future in Logging Careers Act''.

SEC. 2. CHILD LABOR LAW EXEMPTIONS FOR TIMBER HARVESTING ENTITIES AND 
              MECHANIZED TIMBER HARVESTING ENTITIES.

    The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is 
amended--
            (1) in section 3 (29 U.S.C. 203), by adding at the end the 
        following:
    ``(z)(1) `Timber harvesting employer' means an employer engaged 
in--
            ``(A) the felling, skidding, yarding, loading and 
        processing of timber by equipment other than manually operated 
        chainsaws and cable skidders;
            ``(B) the felling of timber in mechanized operations;
            ``(C) the bucking or converting of timber into logs, poles, 
        ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical wood, excelsior wood, cordwood, 
        fence posts, or similar products;
            ``(D) the collecting, skidding, yarding, loading, 
        transporting and unloading of such products in connection with 
        logging;
            ``(E) the constructing, repairing and maintaining of roads 
        or camps used in connection with logging; the constructing, 
        repairing, and maintenance of machinery or equipment used in 
        logging; and
            ``(F) other work performed in connection with logging.
    ``(2) `Mechanized timber harvesting employer'--
            ``(A) means an employer engaged in the felling, skidding, 
        yarding, loading and processing of timber by equipment other 
        than manually operated chainsaws and cable skidders; and
            ``(B) includes an employer engaged in the use of whole tree 
        processors, cut-to-length processors, stroke boom delimbers, 
        wheeled and track feller-bunchers, pull thru delimbers, wheeled 
        and track forwarders, chippers, grinders, mechanical debarkers, 
        wheeled and track grapple skidders, yarders, bulldozers, 
        excavators, and log loaders.''; and
            (2) in section 13(c) (29 U.S.C. 213(c)), by adding at the 
        end the following:
            ``(8) The provisions of section 12 relating to child labor 
        shall apply to an employee who is 16 or 17 years old employed 
        by a timber harvesting employer or mechanized timber harvesting 
        employer in an occupation that the Secretary of Labor finds and 
        declares to be particularly hazardous for the employment of 
        children ages 16 or 17, except where such employee is employed 
        by a timber harvesting employer or mechanized timber harvesting 
        employer owned or operated by a parent or a person standing in 
        the place of a parent of such employee.''.
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